ATLANTA — Guard Zach LaVine operates from a soundproof sphere.
The speculation about his future hasn’t died down since the start of the season, but coach Billy Donovan says he has kept his focus on Bulls basketball.
On media day in September, LaVine insisted that he wouldn’t discuss outside noise, and he has stuck to that stance.
“With everything I’ve learned, there are times where you need to speak and times you don’t,” LaVine said in late September. “Whenever there’s something that needs to be said, it will come from Zach LaVine or my representation. There were a lot of thoughts and rumors and opinions about me, about the organization, so just know that whenever it needs to come from me or them, you’ll know it will be from them. Everything else you can take with a grain of salt with false narratives or whatever it may be.”
That mentality hasn’t changed.
“I feel like whatever he said, he said at media day,” Donovan said Saturday. “I felt in September when he came back, he was all in. I felt like when training camp started, he has been all in, committed to trying to play the way we need to play.
“In terms of his attitude, all the stuff that may be out there, I have not had a conversation with him about that. Everything that we’ve talked about has been about the season, the team and what we need from him, how can he lead.”
Playing helps, so Donovan and the rest of the staff were glad to have LaVine back on the court against the Hawks after he missed three games with a strained adductor. But besides LaVine being all business, Donovan also has been impressed with his renewed interest to try to improve defensively in his 11th season.
LaVine won’t make anyone forget Alex Caruso, but at least there’s an effort.
“I give him credit,” Donovan said. “Because of Alex being that defender and even when Lonzo [Ball] was healthy, he was the other guy, but [LaVine has] taken on matchups to the best of his ability, and he’s done a really, really good job. He’s been all in on everything we’ve asked him to do.”
The bigger picture for the franchise is, will the rest of the league take notice of LaVine, who has a three-year, $138 million price tag? All remains quiet on the trade front, but the front office remains committed to dealing him.
Sweating it out
Backup forward Torrey Craig missed the game against the Hawks, staying in the team hotel in Atlanta before heading over late to catch the team flight out.
Craig was dealing with chills and a fever Thursday and left the Timberwolves game at halftime. He felt better Friday, but Donovan said his ailment returned.
Josh from deep
Guard Josh Giddey came into the game shooting a career-best 40.6% from three-point range and also taking 3.6 threes per game, the most since his rookie year (3.9).
“We’ve encouraged him to do that,” Donovan said. “To me, if you make shots, that’s great. But that comes and goes. He’s going to have nights where he doesn’t shoot it well, but he knows there are other things that he can rely on night in and night out to impact the outcome of the game.”